


A Strand of Hair

by Techrace



Category: Analogue: A Hate Story/Hate Plus (Visual Novel series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 13:53:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3211550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Techrace/pseuds/Techrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyun-ae had insisted. That was the only reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Strand of Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Post Hate Plus 'Harem' ending.

 

Hyun-ae tapped on the door with her knuckles. The feeling in her hand, and the sound of the rapping against the door; both sensations were still fresh and exciting to experience. Just like thinking of herself as Hyun-ae, rather than *Hyun-ae. *Mute might see her as some sort of *Mutecopy, and while it might technically be true, Hyun-ae felt she was the same person as the Pale Bride at heart, and it helped that she had a physical body again. On the other hand, *Mute was still *Mute.

There was a great deal of scrabbling at the door before the handle turned. *Mute was having more trouble adjusting to analogue than Hyun-ae; while they both had centuries of experience being digital to unlearn, in the end Hyun-ae had to remember, while *Mute had to start anew. Thankfully, Wong Robotics knew what they were doing, so there was a rehab center for AIs with new bodies and humans with new prosthetic limbs. Hyun-ae and *Mute's friendly neighborhood space investigator was there with them most of the time, but Hyun-ae had asked for some time for just *Mute and herself.

The door finally opened. “You ready?” asked Hyun-ae, smiling. (How delightful to actually feel her face moving with the expression!)

“If you're insisting on this, better to get it over with,” *Mute said. That was good – talking had still been difficult for her, yesterday.

“That's not very nice to say,” Hyun-ae said. “Getting your hair done is meant to be fun for you, and you want your hair done up like you had it rendered, right?” And it certainly needed some brushing. Was it messier and more tangled than it had been before?

“I'd do it myself if you weren't making such a big deal of it,” *Mute replied. The pair of them walked over to the bed, where they sat down, *Mute facing away from Hyun-ae. Hyun-ae took a brush out of a nearby bag, and started running it through the lovely yellow hair. It caught on the tangles, causing *Mute to gasp and grit her teeth. Pain – not just some damage warning, but real, physical pain – was also something new. Hyun-ae continued to brush, as gently as she could manage. She saw something caught in the brush, realized it wasn't a strand of hair, and felt a lump form in her throat. (How thorough this body's designers had been, to include even such a reaction.) It was a string, like one of the ones she would soon be using to arrange *Mute's hair. So *Mute had tried to do this herself, already, and found her own fingers still too clumsy to be able to. How hard must that be for an AI already struggling with suicidal feelings of helplessness?

And Hyun-ae reached a new realization, as she continued to run the brush through *Mute's hair. Hyun-ae's own fingers had been just as clumsy, in the years before... before her uploading. Already she was surpassing what her original body, in its sickness, had been capable of. Hyun-ae had no idea whether to feel glad or horrified, and so forced herself to focus on *Mute, who was probably more in need of help right now, anyway.

*Mute's body shook – she was crying, as quietly and stoically as she could manage. Of course she was, with all the pain she was in, and the pain of her hair being tugged, on top of that. She tried to speak, but the words were mumbled and slurred, though Hyun-ae was pretty sure it was something about ‘being just a stupid, emotional woman’. Hyun-ae certainly didn’t agree with that idea, but now was hardly the time to debate it. So she just continued to brush, gently shushing as she did so. But no, that didn’t seem like the right thing to do; it was almost like Oh Eun-a somehow, all calculating about ideas and relationships and reactions. Hyun-ae felt a wave a fear that she might become like that person. Should she, instead of overthinking, just do what she felt was best? What did she feel she should do?

Slowly, Hyun-ae put the brush down, and put her arms around *Mute’s waist, drawing the two of them closer together. *Mute’s hands, though clumsy, reached down to hold Hyun-ae’s. In time, *Mute’s shaking stopped.

“Are you glad you chose to get a body?” Hyun-ae asked.

“I could get used to it,” *Mute replied.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't think *Mute would cry, then I took a moment to consider all that she's been through. Quite a few moments, actually. I mean, holy crap.
> 
> Still kind of feel like I mess up any characters I touch, though.
> 
> Edit: The title just did not sound good. Not sure the new one is much better.


End file.
